GRAND RAPIDS, MI — Stacks upon stacks of laptops, iPads and Chromebooks fill the warehouse floor at Tech Defenders, a Grand Rapids-based business the specializes in acquiring, repairing and reselling the devices.

Many will end up in the hands of school districts throughout the U.S., while others will go to companies that sell the products on Amazon and other websites.

It’s a business model that has proven successful for the company, founded in 2012 by Garry VonMyhr, a 30-year-old graduate of Wyoming Park High School and Grand Valley State University.

On Thursday, Tech Defenders will celebrate the opening of its new headquarters, 601 Maryland Ave. NE. The company spent $3 million to purchase and renovate the building, which includes 73,000-square-feet of office and warehouse space. It moved in in October.

The building is giving the company some much needed breathing room – its former location was one-fifth the size – and space to grow. The company has 150 employees but expects to add another 115 positions over the next three years.

“The one question I always get from people – if they’ve been through our other building – is ‘how the heck were you operating in that building’?” VonMyhr said. “I always laugh. I don’t have a clue how we made it happen in that other building, but we did.”

On Thursday morning, Tech Defenders employees were busy at work. Once used devices arrive, workers clean them, wipe out their existing data, test them for problems and make the necessary fixes. Towering shelves were stocked with thousands upon thousands of laptops, iPads and Chromebooks.

About 25,000 devices pass through the warehouse each month, VonMyhr said. He opened the business with two high school classmates, Jordan Notenbaum and Steve Barnes. The three also created Mobile Defenders, a business based in Kentwood that annually generates $35 million in revenue by selling parts to retail cell phone repair shops, VonMyhr said.

Tech Defenders biggest market is school districts, accounting for roughly 80 percent of its business. Many of its clients are in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, but the company does business in 43 states, including Hawaii, California and Texas.

The company’s new headquarters provides an opportunity to grow the business even further and expand into new areas, such as e-waste recycling. It received a $172,500 performance-based grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to help pay for the move.

“We will be taking in things that won’t make as much sense to repurpose,” VonMyhr said. That work will happen in the Grand Rapids and West Michigan region.

The new building provides other benefits as well, he said. It’s more spacious, its offices are outfitted with new carpet and lighting, and a spacious breakroom is stocked with a new refrigerator and a bank of microwave ovens. All of which add up to not only a cleaner, more organized workplace, but a “sense of energy” as well, VonMyhr said.

“If you step in here, you feel the vibes, the energy, the electricity that’s kind of in the air throughout our entire operation,” he said.

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